


a crown of lilacs

by orphan_account



Series: flowers [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Hallucinations, I Tried, Lots of Angst Actually, M/M, giselle / ballet au, honestly i don't even know, minor mental health issues ?, total trash i'm sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-17 18:19:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10599537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Katsuki Yuuri, an 18-year-old aspiring ballet dancer, manages to get into his dream school - the Hasetsu Dance School. There, he meets the talented Victor Nikiforov, a dancer in his senior year admired by everyone in the school for his amazing performances. But as he gets closer to the enigmatic Victor, he also begins to encounter a strange man dressed in white on the outskirts of town.ORan attempt at a giselle/ballet au





	1. prologue

The Hasetsu Ballet Hall was one of the larger, more extravagantly decorated buildings on campus, which made sense considering it also happened to be the most popular. Its main entrance opened up to an impressively built hallway lined with rows of beautiful portraits and paintings. With a bit of walking, this hall eventually led to the newly renovated (and renamed) Katsuki Theatre - considered by many to be the pride of the entirety of the Hasetsu School of the Arts.

 

It was there, in that theatre, where all of the magic took place - where the highly anticipated annual production of the school would eventually be presented for all the world to see. Naturally, it was also the location of the welcoming ceremony for all the new and returning students at the beginning of the school year.

 

Hundreds of eager, wide-eyed young dancers filed in through the double doors, chatting excitedly amongst themselves as they got themselves seated. For some, entering the gleaming school was like a new adventure - for others, it was like once again greeting an old friend.

 

Minutes later, as soon as everyone had settled down in their rows, the lights dimmed, and a hushed silence filled the room. In the darkness, the sound of soft footsteps on wood echoed through the air. Spotlights turned towards the stage, revealing a tall, graceful man standing behind the podium.

 

The sudden brightness was nearly blinding, giving the illusion that the man’s entire figure was made of white light. It took a few seconds before his distinctive silver hair and bright blue eyes came into focus.

 

Now, for all passionate followers of ballet (essentially, everyone in the the theatre) it was not at all difficult to recognize the internationally-acclaimed ballerino, Victor Nikiforov, who had travelled the world dancing nearly every major male role imaginable. Only a couple years before, he had retired as a dancer to work at the school he had graduated from (to the dismay of fans everywhere).

 

Victor closed his eyes, allowing himself some time to breathe and calm himself before speaking. With a small half-wave and his signature cheerful smile, he began, spreading his arms to the stage around him.

 

“Welcome, all, to the Hasetsu Dance School! Now, while I’m sure you would all love to just get onto the dancing, unfortunately you’ll have to listen to me speak for a while. It’s one of the more annoying formalities, I admit.”

 

He paused for a moment to take in the view in front of him. On stage, with the bright lights, it was impossible to see anything but an endless array of black silhouettes in the audience. Victor had always found this comforting - to him, it made it easier to pretend he was just going through another rehearsal, that everything would be fine, that there weren’t thousands of people watching his every move. Even now, while addressing his soon-to-be students, he found himself taking solace in the ever-steady presence of the stage.

 

“I consider myself a simple man. I’ve always loved the same things throughout my life - ballet, my dogs… pork cutlet bowls. And, ever since I first stepped foot into the very same hallway you all just walked through, over 15 years ago, I have always loved this school.

 

“Like I mentioned before, I’m sure none of you want to hear me speak for too long, so I’ll try to keep this short. I’m going to tell you a story right now, taking place during my final two years at this school. My graduating year was the year we performed _Giselle_ \- which, by the way, most critics still consider one of my greatest performances, so if you’re actually interested in ballet, which I hope you are, this story won’t be _that_ boring for you.

 

“Although, to be perfectly honest with you, it’s not actually really my story at all - I’m more of a side character in it.” He tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Hmm. How can I describe this story? It’s a story of a dreamer and an idiot, of passion and grief, of dancing, miracles, and love. It’s a story intertwined with this very school on the deepest level - because, you see… it is the story of the brilliant dancer whose name is honored in the very theatre we're staying in right now.”

 

Staring out into the crowd, Victor let out another one of his dazzling smiles, hoping that he had somewhat managed to pique the audience’s interest.

 

“The story that I will be telling you now is the story of my earliest student, my closest friend, and my first love: a man by the name of Yuuri Katsuki.”

 


	2. romeo and juliet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a fateful first meeting, a humiliating dance class, and the greatest pas de deux in the world.
> 
> or: yuuri regrets everything he's ever done, and victor's intrigued by the new guy.

******YUURI**

**(around fifteen years earlier)**

If you asked him, Yuuri Katsuki would probably say that his love for ballet began at age 13 in the back row of a crowded theatre with the Tokyo Ballet’s production of  _ Romeo and Juliet _ . Although most of his memories from before high school tended to be rather cloudy, he remembered every second of that show as if they had been branded into his mind - from the gleaming, fast-paced swordfights, to the intimate balcony duet dance, to the haunting, final scene. 

 

He could distinctly recall himself, a lanky, nervous boy with blue plastic glasses that covered half his face, craning his head above the rows in front of him to gaze in awe at the stage. 

 

It was a feeling unlike anything he had ever experienced before - after all, before that day, he hadn’t quite known what it was like to crave something like air, to be struck with such an amazing, breathtaking wonder. 

 

For a boy in junior high, he had been surprisingly… hobby-less. He held nothing but distaste for literature, science bored him, and most quick-paced sports terrified him to the bone. And yet, somehow, a few brief seconds into the first act of his first show, ballet had captured his heart in a way that nothing else ever had before.

 

His parents, ever supportive, signed him up at a local ballet studio weeks later, where he found it to be painful, frustrating, stressful, and also the most magical thing he had ever done. He was hooked from day one. That awkward, anxious boy with oversized glasses had just become an awkward, anxious  _ ballet dancer  _ with oversized glasses.

 

Now, considering his age, it wasn’t exactly easy. He had to start taking beginner ballet classes alongside other kids several years younger than him, which both embarrassed him and isolated him. The fact that he was male didn’t help, either, because more often than not he was the only boy in his class, and because at school he was expected to be your average easy-going, ruffian-type guy, which doesn’t really fit with dancing. Add all this to the fact that Yuuri had always been a ball of anxiety… and it really was a recipe for a nervous breakdown.

 

But the most beautiful thing about strong people like Yuuri is that they never really let anything stop them from what they love. Yuuri had his heart set on the Hasetsu Dance School, which offered one of the best ballet courses in the world. He would get in or die trying.

 

He struggled his way through all the basics by practicing extra days, ignored the people in school, and eventually learned to dance well on pointe shoes. Throughout the rest of junior high and the entirety of high school, his life revolved around ballet.

 

In the first semester of his senior year, he was waitlisted at admission. It was a crushing blow - a reality check, almost. 

 

And then, almost like a miracle, he got in, almost at the end of high school. Finally, after all those years of work, he had reached his dream.

\-----------------------

Yuuri jumped out of bed immediately after his alarm began ringing. It wasn’t too difficult - after all, he’d already been awake for hours, unable to sleep with the prospect of finally going to his dream school.

 

He knew that it was somewhat of a lucky miracle that he could go in the first place. His parents, ever supportive, had left nearly every penny of their savings with him in the hopes that he could reach his dreams. He could have been rejected, just like so many others on the waitlist, and yet, here he was, preparing to attend one of the greatest dance schools on earth.

 

Breaking out of his thoughts, he slipped on a pair of pants and an old sweatshirt before slinging a green bag over his shoulder (he had already packed the night before, after a few unsuccessful attempts to fall asleep). 

 

Despite having only a measly two hours of sleep the night before, though, Yuuri felt perfectly awake (almost a bit too jumpy) - most likely thanks to the buzz of adrenaline rushing under his skin. Almost robotically, he moved through his morning routine, doing his best to make sure to not forget anything.

 

Fifteen minutes later, he was at the door, dragging his small red luggage behind him. “Mom,” he grinned as he opened the door. “Don’t cry. I’ll call you, okay!”

 

His mother, very much so already crying, nodded, before waving. “Alright! Make us proud, Yuuri!” She beamed at him.

 

Yuuri turned and left, turning on his car and slipping in his bags. There was still plenty of time before the welcoming ceremony, especially considering the school was within 45 minutes of his house. Alone in the quiet car, he sighed and let his head lean back. Everything was finally sinking in. In less than two hours, he would be spending his days practicing ballet for hours with the greatest instructors in the world. 

 

Even the thought made him anxious. He’d given it his all, he knew, but he was also all-too-aware that all the other students attending had been trying just as hard (and for a longer time). Against the elite dancers of the world, Yuuri’s relative lack of experience became painfully obvious.

 

_ I guess I’ll see if there are any practice rooms open _ , Yuuri thought to himself. At the very least, dancing would help him calm down a bit before he had to face the other students.

 

He turned the key, finding some small degree of comfort in the familiar sound of the engine starting up. Soon after, he was on his way.

\-----------------------

Yuuri stood in awe under the shadow of the towering Hasetsu Ballet Hall, suddenly feeling significantly smaller. Some sort of unknown feeling swelled in his chest, resembling something like the first time he had ever seen a ballet show, so many years ago. He instantly loved everything about the school - the beautiful, extravagant architecture, the stone pathways running through campus, the large, proud gold lettering on the top: ‘HASETSU BALLET’.

 

It seemed majestic, almost, like something straight out of a dream. Timidly, Yuuri reached for the door handle and stepped into the massive entrance hall. 

 

As he’d expected, it was pretty much completely empty - it seemed that other students either hadn’t woken up yet or hadn’t arrived. Utterly lost, Yuuri decided to explore around for a bit, the sound of his footsteps echoing through the building.

 

About halfway into the east wing, Yuuri came across the first sign that someone else was already here. A vaguely familiar, lilting tune lingered through the hallways from Yuuri’s left. He decided to follow it - perhaps it would lead him to one of the practice rooms (after all, the source of the sound was most likely some student or teacher warming up).

 

He soon found the source of the sound to be the  _ Giselle Room _ . Its set of double doors were set halfway open, allowing the soft sounds of the music to reach the outside. The light was turned on - since it was still early morning, the sun had just barely risen, so the sky was still too dark. It was inside the room, though, that the brightest light Yuuri had ever seen was standing.

 

The man in front of him practically glowed with an indescribable radiance as he moved across the floor. His movements seemed almost inhumanly perfect - with every step Yuuri could almost  _ feel  _ the sadness and longing of the imaginary scene. The dancer’s long, silver hair, tied back behind his head, moved with him through his graceful spins adding a light, feminine touch to his dancing.

 

Speechless, Yuuri watched all of this in silent admiration at the doorway, once again reminded of the astounding beauty of ballet.

 

After a final leap, the music faded away, leaving a strange emptiness in the room. The man stood with his head bowed for a few moments, in complete silence, before breaking out of position, and jumping up energetically. He turned to face Yuuri at the doorway, an eager grin spreading across his face. Yuuri could do nothing but stare in fascination - the man’s were astonishingly blue, he noted.

 

“Hello, there!” the dancer greeted eagerly,  the smile still stuck on his features. He seemed like a completely different person than the tragic lover he had portrayed in his dance just seconds before.

 

It took a little while for Yuuri to register that he was being spoken to. Startled, he jumped up, immediately flushing a deep pink. “U-uh, hello! Sorry, I got lost- I was just passing through and I happened to hear the music so I thought I would follow it and I-”

 

“Don’t be sorry! It was my fault for having the doors open, anyways,” the man laughed. “My name’s Victor Nikiforov, by the way! What’s your’s?” He offered a hand to a very embarrassed Yuuri.

 

“A-ah, well, I’m Yuuri. Katsuki Yuuri. I’m really sorry to have disturbed your practice, by the way, I was just kind of lost and trying to maybe look for a room where I could warm up a bit before today, you kn-”

 

Victor waved a dismissive hand. “It’s fine! I was just about finishing up, anyways. Principal Yakov wants me over there an hour before the ceremony, hah.” He paused for a few moments, gazing at Yuuri intently. “So what brings you here? Aside from being lost, I mean. Are you touring the campus? Or did you just want to come early for the ceremony? Or perhaps...”

 

He smiled charmingly and held out his phone, before winking at Yuuri. “...a commemorative photo?” 

 

Flustered, Yuuri flushed an even  _ deeper  _ shade, if that was possible anymore. “Ah, uh, no thanks, sorry, I was just passing by and all, I mean-”

 

“Relax, don’t worry!” His usual wide grin returned. “I was just joking. You must be a student, right? And since you got lost… are you new?”

 

Yuuri nodded, no longer trusting himself to speak (lest he make an even  _ bigger  _ fool out of himself). Once again, he found himself staring at the other man’s face - even ignoring his unnaturally blue eyes, Victor was one of the most beautiful people he had ever seen.  _ This is so unfair _ , he thought to himself, disgruntled.

 

“Ah, a freshie! You’ll get used to it in no time - it’s only intimidating at first,” Victor continued, seemingly undeterred by Yuuri’s lack of a reply.

 

_ Pick up the conversation, idiot _ . Yuuri’s mind raced, frantically attemptiing to find something interesting to talk about. “Um…” he began, fiddling with his fingers.  _ ‘Um’. What an eloquent start _ . “The song… that you were just dancing to… was that from Romeo and Juliet, by any chance? I feel like I recognize it.”

 

Victor’s eyes lit up. “Yes! That was Act 3 - 50, where he’s sitting at Juliet’s bedside! It’s a beautiful piece.”

 

“Yeah,” Yuuri agreed. “Romeo and Juliet was the first ballet I watched, so it’s special to me, I guess. I’ve listened to the tracklist quite a bit.”

 

“That’s cool! You should have come here last year - we just did Romeo and Juliet. It was a good show.”

 

Yuuri smiled, reaching his hand to the back of his neck. “That would have been nice.”

 

A brief silence passed between them, which Victor took advantage of to pack up his things. He waved to Yuuri as he walked out the door.

 

“It was nice meeting you, Yuuri!” He grinned brightly. “See you later!”

 

Unsure what to do other than stand awkwardly in the doorway, Yuuri watched as the man turned the corner and disappeared. As soon as he was completely out of sight, Yuuri let out a sigh of relief. Although he was sure it wasn’t intentional, speaking to a dancer of such amazing talent was incredibly intimidating.

 

_ Oh well,  _ he thought as he turned back towards the now-empty room, deciding to push the interaction to the back of his mind.  _ I guess I might as well practice, now _ .

\-----------------------

The welcoming ceremony passed by reasonably quickly, and Yuuri soon found himself in his first class at the school.

 

His instructor was a stern-looking woman in her mid-50s named Lilia Baranovskaya. Yuuri recognized the name - years ago, she had been the famed prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet Company.

 

After everyone stretched and got warmed up, Ms. Lilia spoke up. “For the first day, I’ll be doing a few basic tests to see your skill levels.”

 

Yuuri felt his stomach drop, suddenly anxious. He looked around him at the confident dancers around him, who all seemed to be unconcerned with the idea of a test.

 

_ Great _ , he thought to himself.  _ Public humiliation on the first day.  _

 

Next to him, another dancer elbowed him in the rib, leaning over to whisper to him. A friendly grin grew on his face. “Hello,” the dancer greeted eagerly. “What’s your name? I’m Phichit Chulanont.”

 

“Ah, hello,” Yuuri quickly replied, still stressing over the idea of a mini-test on the first day. “I’m Yuuri - uh, Yuuri Katsuki.”

 

Phichit grinned brightly. “Cool! Hi, Yuuri!” He looked back over at Ms. Lilia. “Don’t worry too much,” he murmured. “It won’t be that important in the long run, even if you do badly. She just needs to know what we need help on..”

 

Yuuri bit his lip, slightly less anxious. “Thanks,” he whispered back.

 

At the front of the room, Ms. Lilia clapped her hands together to get the attention of the class. With a frown, she called out, “Get in a line! Now that everyone’s warmed up, let’s do some grand jetés across the floor.”

 

Everyone quickly shuffled into place, with Yuuri close to the back of the line. He fidgeted with his hands as he watched the dancers in front of him leap into the air. Each of them seemed almost flawless - the landings were clean, the splits were nice, and they all seemed to hold an air of confidence.

 

Yuuri knew that there was an obvious skill difference - he doubted that he could even come close to it.

 

Time sped by insanely fast - soon it was Phichit’s turn, who was standing right in front of him. Anxious, Yuuri watched as he performed the jump as flawlessly as everyone had before him. The dancer’s feet touched the floor. It was Yuuri’s turn.

 

He’d done grand jetés for years, he told himself. This was no different. Slowly, he walked himself through it as he began the jump - time, which had so inconveniently sped up before, was now ticking ever slowly. One foot in front of the other, until finally -

 

His right leg propelled him into the air, and - 

 

Just as he completed the split, his glasses fell, crashing onto the ground below him. The world blurred around him, and he felt his ankle twist painfully as he clumsily completed his landing. Yuuri quickly reached to the ground to pick up his glasses and wipe them off.

 

“Sorry,” he let out, red-faced, bowing his head in shame. A something terrible seemed to fill his chest - he felt sick, almost. “Sorry,” he muttered again, moving to the back of the line for the next activity.

 

The dancer after him in the line scoffed, looking at him with disgust. He seemed to be significantly younger than Yuuri, with his shoulder-length white-blonde hair tied back.

 

Ms. Lilia simply stared at him, seemingly deep in thought. “We’ll have to do something about those glasses, Mr. Katsuki,” she commented, before turning back once more to the next few dancers.

\-----------------------

“Hey,” Phichit spoke up, pulling off his shoes. “Are you alright?”

 

The locker room was amazingly new - it seemed to be newly renovated. After class, all the dancers had gathered in there to change. Aside from the disaster of the first assessment, everything else had passed pretty quickly - not that it mattered anymore, though.

 

Yuuri groaned and laid himself over the bench he was sitting on, letting an arm cover his eyes. He’d never felt so humiliated in his life. His classmates  _ and  _ his teacher probably thought he was a total idiot, now.

 

Phichit chuckled at his forlorn state. “I’ll take that as a no,” he continued, reaching to grab a green sweatshirt with the school’s logo out of his bag. Yuuri remained silent.

 

“Don’t worry about it, seriously!” Phichit tried again. “Believe me, everyone was too worried about themselves to even notice anyone’s mistakes. And it wasn’t even your fault - it was just your glasses, right? I’m sure Ms. Lilia won’t hold it against you.”

 

Unable to come up with an intelligent response, Yuuri just let out another extended groan. He didn’t even feel like sitting up to get changed anymore.

 

A few minutes passed in silence. “I’ve got something that can cheer you up,” Phichit smiled. “There’s a welcome party being hosted in a cafe not far from here. It starts at ten tonight - how about I drive you there? Then we can both make some friends!”

 

Yuuri moved his arm off of his face and opened an eye to look at Phichit. The boy was being unusually nice - although judging by his easy grin, he was probably like that to everyone. Still, it seemed somewhat unfair to completely dismiss him after he had put so much effort into cheering him up.

 

“Alright,” Yuuri nodded, moving to start taking off his own dance shoes. “That sounds good.” He smiled back at the other dancer. “Thanks!”

 

Phichit slung a strap of his yellow bag over his shoulder. “No problem! I’ll meet you at the entrance of this building at 9:30, alright?”

 

At Yuuri’s nod, he began walking. He turned and waved once he reached the door. “So I’ll see you then. Bye, Yuuri! It was nice meeting you!”

 

“Bye!” Yuuri yelled back. He returned his attention back to changing, feeling somewhat better about the lousy jumps situation.

\-----------------------

“So who’s going to be at this party, anyways?” Yuuri turned to Phichit, who was concentrating on the road ahead. They were sitting side by side in the front row of Phichit’s tiny yellow Volkswagen.

 

Phichit shrugged, another smile growing on his face. “I think it’s just freshmen, for the most part,” he answered as they took a turn onto the next road. “Although I’m sure Victor will be there - they’ll definitely have invited him.”

 

Yuuri raised an eyebrow. “Victor?”  _ Could it be... _

 

“Yeah! Victor Nikiforov, the star student of Hasetsu. He’ll definitely be famous one day - I’ve never seen him perform before, but I’ve heard it’s amazingly beautiful. Anyways,” Phichit cut in. “He’s super popular, so I’m sure the other freshmen want to have him at the party. It’s good to make friends with people like that, y’know.”

 

“Ah,” Yuuri trailed off, unsure how to reply. Victor Nikiforov… the silver-haired man he had seen that morning? His dancing had been breathtaking, for sure, but… what were the chances of  _ him  _ bumping into the star student of Hasetsu on the first day?

 

The car slowly came to a stop. Phichit twisted his keys out and got out the door, grinning at Yuuri. “We’re here!” He gestured towards the small building in front of them, which seemed to be overflowing with people.

 

Closing the car door behind him, Yuuri rushed to catch up to Phichit at the entrance. The atmosphere inside the cafe was surprisingly… calm. Not that it wasn’t already getting out of hand, of course - there seemed to already be a group of people drinking in the center of the cafe. But there wasn’t any deafening music playing, at least, and there was enough light in the room to clearly see everything going on.

 

“I’ll catch up with you later, alright?” Phichit waved before running off to some unknown corner of the cafe, leaving Yuuri alone in the center of the crowd.

 

Frantically, Yuuri scanned the room for a familiar face (although deep down, he realized that he’d find no one - after all, it had only been one day). He’d never been good with crowds - something about the huge amounts of people unnerved him.

 

He noticed a flash of silver out of the corner of the eye, and turned to lock eyes with the one and only Victor Nikiforov - the same beautiful dancer he had bumped into in the morning. Crowds of freshmen swarmed the man’s table.  _ Ah _ , Yuuri thought.  _ So it was him. _

 

Victor quickly turned away to continue his conversation with a black-haired man standing across from him. Yuuri felt disappointment bubble in his stomach - what had he been expecting, though? A flash of recognition, perhaps? A wave, at least?

 

Feeling even  _ more  _ grumpy than before, Yuuri moved towards the table with the drinks, resolving to wait out the party in some isolated corner and maybe sulk over his terrible day. He glanced over at the assortment of drinks laid out in the center. All the other freshmen were starting to drink by now, so another possibility was…

 

_ Ah, screw it _ , he thought.

\-----------------------

**VICTOR**

Victor sighed, leaning his head to rest against the cool glass of the window next to him, letting the buzz of conversations around him fade to the background. He’d forgotten how boring freshmen parties could be.

 

Unfortunately, he’d only dragged along one of his friends: a junior named Otabek Altin. Even more unfortunately, Otabek was now out of sight - Victor had last seen him dragged off by some thin, angry-looking, blond-haired freshman.

 

He couldn’t drink to solve his boredom, either (despite being one of the only of-age people at the party) because he’d promised to drive Otabek to their apartment after the party was over.  _ Ugh. _

 

There had to be  _ some  _ interesting people at this party, right?

 

The crowd suddenly cheered even  _ louder _ . Curious, Victor walked through the hordes of people to see what was going on.

 

In the middle of the room, a  _ very  _ drunk Yuuri was dancing by himself. Victor recognized the dance - he’d done it just the year before, while playing the role of Romeo in the school’s annual ballet. The famous balcony scene  _ pas de deux _ , or dance for two - executed by only one dancer. And a drunk one, at that.

 

He watched as the man stumbled through the dance - it was beautiful, in some misshapen, clumsy way. Victor chuckled to himself. When he’d first met Yuuri that morning, he had assumed it was just another bland freshman (albeit an attractive one). Now, as he saw Yuuri attempt to complete a lift by himself, he realized how wrong he was.

 

Once again, the crowd cheered, filling the room with noise. Yuuri, unable to complete to complete the two-person lift for obvious reasons, had fallen. His glasses had slipped a few inches away from him, but instead of standing up and continuing the dance, the man just stared at the ground with some unreadable emotion.

 

A strange feeling pricked at Victor’s chest, and before could realize what he was doing, he picked up the glasses and gently slid them onto Yuuri’s head. Holding out a hand for the man to stand up, he smiled.

 

“You might want to do something about those glasses,” he whispered jokingly into the man’s ear. Yuuri stared at him with wide eyes, a faint blush growing on his cheeks. Victor grinned.

 

“Let’s dance.”

 

Then, as if some invisible orchestra had started playing behind them, they began to dance the balcony scene  _ pas de deux _ in nearly perfect sync. The crowds of people, previously drowning in laughter, now stood in an awed silence.

 

Victor could practically  _ feel  _ every part of the dance as if it were an extension of himself - Yuuri’s movements, despite being slightly clumsy, seemed to fit perfectly alongside his. He could hear violins playing beside him - suddenly, an entire stage opened up to him. It was unlike anything he’d ever felt before.

 

He placed his hands securely at Yuuri’s waist before lifting him up towards the invisible spotlights. In his head, the music gradually came to a close.

 

After placing him down, Victor stared at the other dancer - Yuuri’s features were flushed, now, leaving a reddish tint in his cheeks. His brown eyes sparkled as he looked up at Victor, and a wide grin slowly grew on his face.

 

“Victor!” Yuuri yelled out. “Be my coach, Victor!”

 

Before Victor could even come up with a response, the man collapsed onto his shoulder.

\-----------------------

“Otabek!” Victor called out, out of breath. It had taken a while to find his friend - it turned out he was sitting on the roof of the building with the same blondie that Victor had seen earlier. “Otabek, we gotta go now.” He gestured at Yuuri, who was slumped over his shoulder, passed out completely.

 

Otabek nodded, murmuring something to his companion before walking towards Victor. “Who’s this?” he asked, amused.

 

Victor bit his lip. “Uh… I actually don’t really know. His name is Yuuri, but…” he trailed off. “I don’t actually know where to drop him off.”

 

The blonde, who was still sitting a few feet away from them, stood up, glaring at the unconscious Yuuri. “I know him. Yuuri Katsuki, right?” At Victor’s nod, he continued. “Yep. That’s my roommate.”

 

Beaming, Victor turned towards him. “Wow, great! Could you help lead us to his dorm? I need to drop him off. I don’t want to just leave him here.” He waited as the blonde stood up and brushed himself off before speaking up again. “Also, what’s your name?”

 

“I’m also Yuri,” he addressed curtly, glancing at Yuuri with some sort of disgust. “But you can call me Yurio.” With that, he walked down the stairs to the main floor. Otabek and Victor quickly followed suit.

 

By now, the party had already lost steam - after all, it was well past midnight, and there were still classes the next day. Most of the people still in the cafe were in a state not much better than Yuuri, so Victor, Otabek, and Yurio all managed to slip out quietly, with Yuuri still slumped over Victor’s shoulder.

 

With a beep, Victor’s car turned on, and the four of them got in. A tensed silence filled the air - judging by Yurio’s frown, it seemed that he was unwilling to make conversation with anyone except Otabek.

 

“Which building?” Victor asked, deciding to keep the talking down to a minimum.

 

Yurio pointed outside of the car window towards the general direction of the forest outside town. “La Sylphide,” he replied. “It’s the one closest to the edge of this town. The smallest one. I’ll take him from there.”

 

Victor nodded and started up the car. They drove in complete silence, occasionally interrupted by the unconscious Yuuri turning over in his seat.

 

Not that Victor cared, though - currently, his thoughts were completely taken over by the events of around an hour ago. It was strange, really, that his most memorable duet should be one with a drunk stranger.

 

And yet, the image of a flushed, beaming Yuuri Katsuki plagued his mind -  _ be my coach, Victor _ , is what he had said.  _ Be my coach. _

 

Victor smiled to himself at the thought.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (sorry about the inconsistent chapter lengths) 
> 
> thanks so much for reading!
> 
> tumblr: eosophile.tumblr.com

**Author's Note:**

> hello! thank you for reading. this is my first yoi fic, hopefully it doesn't turn out to be complete trash. also, i haven't danced ballet in like,,, 7 years,,,, so I definitely might get some terminology wrong ;_; whoops. (also, this chapter was really short since it's the beginning - the others should be significantly longer)
> 
> my tumblr is eosophile.tumblr.com ! I will probably be posting some of my own art for this fic there :)
> 
> thanks again!


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